While taking-off in a 737, I saw an object that looked like a large chrome ball-bearing sitting above a cloud bed.

On 03/16/2000, I was taking off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in a commercial Boeing 737 bound for Cancun, Mexico. As the plane climbed, I was engaged in my usual habit of looking downward, watching the ground as it gradually grew smaller and smaller. We then began climbing through random layers of clouds. So my view of the outside would become white-washed with clouds for several seconds at a time, followed by periods of clear to semi-clear visibility.

At one point in our ascent, while continuing to look downward, the visiblity became completely clear. At this point, my eyes shifted and locked-on what appeared to be a metallic ball- shaped object, positioned at about 2:00 & 100 ft below us. It seemed to be stationary, sitting just above a lower cloud bed. The object looked like a large, (about 6 feet in diameter) glistening ball bearing with no seams or wings that I could see. The object didn't appear to be moving, as I remember turning my head to track it as we passed.

I tracked it to about 4:30, when we hit another cloud bank and my window went white. I quickly looked at those around me, but could tell that they hadn't seen anything. I don't really think they could have where they were seated and I wasn't about to get up and start asking everyone seated at a window, "Excuse me sir/maam, Did you happen to see the large chrome ball floating outside the plane just a moment ago."

At first, I'm thinking that this might just have been some sort of weather related equipment that they use around airports. Then I start thinking how dangerous this would be to planes landing and taking off, especially concealed in cloud cover as it was. I thought about talking to the pilots, but just blew it off.

As the years passed, I kept thinking back on what I had seen. I've called NASA several times over the last few years, just to see if they could maybe identify the object as man-made based on my description. Every time, I would be prompted to leave a recorded message. I was about to, but then started getting a little wary. Wouldn't want any "wacko files" opened up on me or anything. Maybe you can help identify what I saw, man-made or otherwise. It would seem rather small to be occupied, but who knows. Thanks.